In two scathing court judgments yesterday, the actions of the two of President Jacob Zuma’s leading cabinet allies were dealt crippling blows.
In the first judgment, the Constitutional Court yesterday ordered the government to pay all social grants on April 1 via its current service provider, Cash Paymaster Services (CPS).
The ruling seeks to end a fiasco that threatened the payment of benefits to 17 million of the country’s most vulnerable people – the elderly, children and disabled.
The court sharply censured the Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini, over her inaction and failure to resolve the crisis, calling it “incomprehensible”.
In the second judgment, the Pretoria High Court ruled that Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko’s appointment of Lieutenant-General Berning Ntlemeza as head of the Special Investigations Unit, or Hawks, was invalid. Ntlemeza was appointed head of Hawks in December 2014. Freedom Under Law and the Helen Suzman Foundation had applied for Ntlemeza’s appointment to be declared “irrational and unlawful” and for the court to refer the appointment back to a selection panel for a new candidate to be chosen.
In March 2015, High Court Judge Elias Matojane ruled that Ntlemeza “lacks integrity and honour” and had made false statements under oath. He was acting Hawks head at the time.
The Concourt judgment came as a massive relief to grant recipients.
Pauline Masiq, a 74-year-old mother of six said: “It means a lot to me because I have to pay for burials, pay food, pay rent and buy water and electricity ... it helps me a lot”.
The chaos over the grants stemmed from Dlamini’s department’s failure to take responsibility for social service payments or find a new provider after the Concourt ruled in 2014 that the tender won by CPS, a unit of multinational technology company Net1, was illegal.
“In the deepest and most shaming of ironies, government relies on a private company to get it out of this predicament,” Justice Johan Froneman said on behalf of the court.
“The sole reason for this litigation is the minister’s failure to keep its promise to the people of South Africa,” he said.
“There must be public accounting for how this was allowed to happen.”
The minister was not immediately available to comment.
The court said it would assume oversight over the welfare payments and ordered the grant-paying company to continue distributing the grants under the terms of its current contract for 12 months before a new arrangement could be adopted. — Tiso Black Star Group
l Another report on page 12
Courts hit back
In the first judgment, the Constitutional Court yesterday ordered the government to pay all social grants on April 1 via its current service provider, Cash Paymaster Services (CPS).
The ruling seeks to end a fiasco that threatened the payment of benefits to 17 million of the country’s most vulnerable people – the elderly, children and disabled.
The court sharply censured the Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini, over her inaction and failure to resolve the crisis, calling it “incomprehensible”.
In the second judgment, the Pretoria High Court ruled that Minister of Police Nathi Nhleko’s appointment of Lieutenant-General Berning Ntlemeza as head of the Special Investigations Unit, or Hawks, was invalid. Ntlemeza was appointed head of Hawks in December 2014. Freedom Under Law and the Helen Suzman Foundation had applied for Ntlemeza’s appointment to be declared “irrational and unlawful” and for the court to refer the appointment back to a selection panel for a new candidate to be chosen.
In March 2015, High Court Judge Elias Matojane ruled that Ntlemeza “lacks integrity and honour” and had made false statements under oath. He was acting Hawks head at the time.
The Concourt judgment came as a massive relief to grant recipients.
Pauline Masiq, a 74-year-old mother of six said: “It means a lot to me because I have to pay for burials, pay food, pay rent and buy water and electricity ... it helps me a lot”.
The chaos over the grants stemmed from Dlamini’s department’s failure to take responsibility for social service payments or find a new provider after the Concourt ruled in 2014 that the tender won by CPS, a unit of multinational technology company Net1, was illegal.
“In the deepest and most shaming of ironies, government relies on a private company to get it out of this predicament,” Justice Johan Froneman said on behalf of the court.
“The sole reason for this litigation is the minister’s failure to keep its promise to the people of South Africa,” he said.
“There must be public accounting for how this was allowed to happen.”
The minister was not immediately available to comment.
The court said it would assume oversight over the welfare payments and ordered the grant-paying company to continue distributing the grants under the terms of its current contract for 12 months before a new arrangement could be adopted. — Tiso Black Star Group
l Another report on page 12
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